Putting your home up on the market? The excitement you felt when you purchased your first home will always be a fond memory to look back on in the years to come. Now, it’s time for someone else to feel that rush of anticipation once the papers are signed and you hand them the keys.
A step-by-step guide such as this one helps make property selling a positive experience for both parties so let’s jump right in.
How to Sell Property in Malaysia
Step 1: Decide if you will get an agent or go DIY
As a seller, you can choose to either do everything yourself using property websites or with the help a professional agent. Hiring an agent from Ohmyhome will result in a stress-free, efficient and easy to understand the selling process.
In the end, the decision is yours. It depends on the amount of time and attention you can allocate to selling your property on your own. You will also have to consider your experience or lack thereof, that you might have from selling a property previously.
Step 2: Research the asking price
This next step is important, especially to those of you that are confident in your decision to not hire a realtor. It’s important that you have a rough estimate of the current market price for your type of residential property. Be it for a basic unit or renovated, it is important to know what a reasonable asking price looks like for your property. This is so you won’t be asking for an amount too high that it would discourage buyers, or too low that your profit margin is almost non-existent.
If you decide to hire an agent, this information would be gathered and presented to you with no time wasted on your part. If not, you can conduct research on your own with three different methods. The first can be done by looking up online listings in your area for your property type. The second involves a realtor agency, but not the way you might think. Call up a few and inquire about the price currently going for properties similar to yours in your neighborhood. The third method is an oldie but a goodie: drive around your area and call the number on the for sale signs and banners and inquire. This method will also give you a better understanding of the current supply of houses on sale in the area.
Step 3: Spruce up your property
Look at your property with an objective eye to see if there’s anything that needs improvement or repairs. Honestly assess the condition of the house to avoid overlooking necessary areas to fix and touch up, which may happen as you’ve grown accustomed to your home.
The general rule for preparing a house for sale is to give it a paint job on both the exterior and interior, as well as a deep cleaning. You should take care of any plumbing issues or leaking roofs, faucets, broken fixtures, etc.Otherwise, it will be harder to land a buyer.
Step 4: Conduct a property tour
Once again, if you have hired a realtor, they would handle this step by taking potential buyers around the property and answering questions that they might have. Realtors would discuss at length with the buyers regarding an offer to purchase agreement and relay it all back to you once an offer is put in.
If you are conducting the viewing, make sure to take precautions by having someone you know and trust there with you. Hideall your valuables in a secure place. If you’re still living in the house during the viewing, tidy the place up and take down personal things such as photos. Make it feel as homey as possible, but remove any clutter. After all, you’re trying to sell them a house so that they can turn it into their home.
If you cannot conduct physical home viewings, ask about doing a video property tour video property tour. You can upload the video on the Ohmyhome platform.
Step 5: Hire a lawyer
Several legal documents have to be written up and signed for the house to be sold and passed on from you to the new owners. The lawyer is there to write up all the legal documents required to have the house sold, such as the sale and purchase agreement (SPA) and the memorandum of transfer.
Step 6: Getting paid and deducting expenses
After accepting an offer, your buyer should give a deposit worth 10% of the selling price. All you have to do is wait for the buyer’s bank to release the money to your lawyer and then to you. The bank often releases the money in two stages: the first is often to cover your mortgage loan on the property with your loan bank, then the second is to you through your lawyer.
Once you’ve received the payment in full and you’ve handed over the keys, it’s time to pay your dues to the government. As of 2019, there were amendments made on the Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT) rates, which were announced during Budget 2019. If this is the first home that you’re selling, you will be given a one-time exemption from RPGT.
If you follow these steps, you can cover the essentials and complete the property transaction hassle-free.
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